TWO Books I just read!

So I just got back from Las Vegas, and in the course of my travels I read two novels. The first, That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay, I finished on the plane ride there. The second, The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig, I started before I left and finished on the way home. Both books were great, different, but very enjoyable.

That Part Was True is the story of a correspondence that grows to be a friendship, between two people who don't actually meet during the course of the story. Jackson Cooper is a novelist living in the Hamptons, and Eve Petworth is a lonely, well-off British woman living in the English countryside. Eve enjoys one of Jack's novels so much that she decides to write him a letter, and so begins a correspondence that turns into a deep and caring friendship. I really like these characters, and their interactions through snail-mail and e-mail are interesting and engaging. This is just a really sweet book, and the end is just lovely.

The Ashford Affair is two connected stories in different times and places. In the early 20th century, Addie Gillecote is orphaned and goes to live with her aunt and uncle and cousins, and she and cousin Bea develop a special friendship. At the turn of the 21st century, Clementine Evans' Granny Addie dies at the age of 99, and a family secret finally comes to light. Alternating between Addie's point of view in the past, and Clemmie's point of view in the present, Willig presents an intriguing story of love, betrayal, and what it means to be family. This was a real page-turner.

That Part Was True

The Ashford Affair

The Invention of Wings

I am a big Sue Monk Kidd fan (loved The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair) so I was very happy when the notice came from the library that my hold was finally in. I proceeded to gobble up this book in short order, and I was not disappointed. What I didn't know until I reached the end notes was that the main characters were actual people.

Kidd tells the story of Sarah and Angelina (Nina) Grimke, two Charleston sisters of the early 19th century who find slavery so abhorrent that they head north, become Quakers, and are two of the most outspoken abolitionists and feminists of the time. In order to personalize the story a bit, Kidd creates Handful/Hetty, the slave Sarah's parents give her on her 12th birthday to be her waiting maid. The novel alternates telling the story from Sarah's and Handful's point-of-view, and it's a very effective way of really sending the message about the evils of slavery, and also of showing the complexities of the relationships between slaveholders and their slaves.

This is a beautifully told story with rich, interesting characters and a message that resonates across the centuries. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Invention of Wings

David and Goliath

I am a big Malcolm Gladwell fan, and his latest book does not disappoint. Gladwell has a way of thinking and looking at things that is quite different from the way I think and look at things, and that always makes me say, wow, that's really interesting.

In his latest book, Gladwell looks at how perceived advantages can sometimes be disadvantages, and vice versa. He uses examples of real people in real situations who have overcome something to do great things... or who didn't live up to their great expectations. He uses statistics and math, but in ways that are very approachable and understandable (and that had me going to Google again and again to find out more). And he just has this way of humanizing his subjects that's very readable and likeable.

This is a super easy, very interesting read. If you like this and haven't read any other Gladwell, I highly recommend The Tipping Point and Outliers.

David and Goliath

Lean In

I have been wondering what all the hype was about with this book, so I picked it up at the library. It's a nice read, and Sheryl Sandberg is a good storyteller, but there is really nothing profound here.

For those who don't know, Sandberg is the COO of Facebook - one of the few women to hold such a position (and probably one of Facebook's oldest employees). She previously worked at Google. She went to Harvard (twice), and interned for Larry Summers. The woman is privileged and connected. She also gives some good advice. I wish I had read it when I first entered the workforce in my early 20's rather than now, but it's good to read these sorts of books now and then.

But honestly, I believe I already practice much of what she discusses, as do most of the women I know.

Lean In

The Signature of All Things

If I was expecting Elizabeth Gilbert's fiction to be like her non-fiction, I would have been disappointed. But since I had read the reviews and knew that it was not like her non-fiction, I had no preconceived notions, so I was able to enjoy the book on its own merits.

The novel is about Alma Whittaker, born in 1800 to the richest man in Philadelphia. Alma's parents are a poor British boy who worked hard and became a wealthy and renowned botanist, and a very intelligent Dutch girl from a good family who leaves everything to come with him to America. Alma receives a wider and better education than most boys of the time, and is soon joined in her schoolroom by an adopted sister, Prudence, the daughter of a murdered prostitute.

Alma is the central figure of the story, and all of the other characters are seen in relation to her. She is a fabulous character - outspoken, brilliant, hard-working, with a keen sense of humor. The turns her life takes - from Philadelphia to Tahiti to Holland - are slow to come but great adventures when they do. It's a very detailed book - I admit to skimming some sections that got too heavily into botanical detail, and Liz must be a demon of a researcher - but it was a very satisfying book.

The Signature of All Things

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming

Okay, so I started this book with no idea what to expect. My friend Shari said it was a really nice book, and to be honest, I didn't know if it was fiction or non before I started reading. But Shari was right, it's a really nice book.

The author, Rod Dreher, tells the story of his sister Ruthie, and along the way he tells his own story too. Rod and Ruthie grew up in a very small town in Louisiana, a place where family and community are everything, and where hunting, fishing, and little league are the activities of choice. Ruthie loves small-town life, but Rod is a bookish boy who dreams of traveling the globe. Ruthie and Rod pretty much live their separate lives, until Ruthie is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

I don't want to give too much of the book away, because a big part of it is how Ruthie and Rod live their lives, and how their lives are impacted by Ruthie's cancer. Rod's sharing of Ruthie's story is a way to tell his own story, of how he came to be the man he is, and how he has come to believe the things he believes. It's a sad story, yes, but it's also an uplifting and hopeful story. I definitely recommend it.

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming

The Last Kingdom

This is the first book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles, and if you like historical fiction you will not want to miss this one. Cornwell takes us to the mid-800's (yes, that's 800, not 1800) for the story of Uhtred, a young English boy who is taken hostage by a group of marauding Danes and adopted by them.

I wasn't sure I was going to like the book at first. It's very heavy on war and battle, which is not particularly my thing. But the characters just grabbed me, particularly Uhtred, who is a smart kid who seems to be able to handle what anyone throws at him, and Ragnor, the violent but good-hearted and principled Dane who changes his life forever. It's also a really compelling and true story about how the Dane's picked the kingdoms of the British Isles apart until only one - Wessex, ruled by Albert - is left standing. This is basically the beginning of the birth of modern-day England, and Albert has become known as Albert the Great.

History buffs, anglophiles, and battle-lovers will all enjoy this book. I'm looking forward to reading the next one!


The Last Kingdom